Tomatoes and Cucumbers

My husband is a veggie head. That's not to say that he loves to eat vegetables. Really, he just loves to grow them. And I gotta say, he's good at it. The above photo is only a small picking from last year's harvest.  Problem is, though they produce a lot of goodies, his gardens themselves aren't pretty to look at, and we have many love spats about this each year. Crooked, makeshift fences, erratic "latices" of string, overgrown borders of weeds... seriously.  Of course, the ONLY place he says the sun is "just right" for his ugly garden is in the middle of my back yard - the direct focal point of my outdoor and indoor living space (from all living and dining room windows).

Now, I love that Josh is the kinda man that doesn't understand what makes something pretty. But c'mon! See what I mean? This is last year: (don't miss the beer bottle in the pot)

Alas! Josh has finally succumbed to my demands for a prettier garden. I told him I will not eat a single tomato until he builds me a pretty garden to look at. And the boy loves to feed me. So look what he did. I'm so proud!

And look at these cool tomato cages he built out of the left over wire fencing. Grow, babies, grow!

We joke that now that the garden is pretty, nothing will grow. I'm hoping this isn't true. I'll keep you abreast on the progress. And those of you who know me will hopefully be nourished from the bounty soon!

A definite maybe

Just ran across this photo on Design Sponge. You know what I'm thinking don't you? These gorgeous wall panels may be exactly what my ugly bedroom needs! What do you think? Should I fill the huge frames with a darker shade of aqua, a crisp white, or maybe a fabulous damask wallpaper... say, something like THIS:

We'll see. First step is convincing Joshua to do it. I'll keep ya posted (pardon the pun).

Lamp Love

My friend, Karen, and I felt so sorry for this vase on the clearance rack at Stein Mart... so bad that we rescued it and turned it into a fabulous lamp!

Before:

After!

The vase was only $13, and the whole lamp ended up costing around $35! This was a fun project, and this is how you can do it...

1) Gather materials (see photo below): vase, spray paint, lamp kit (bought at goodwill for $6!), fabric, ribbon, wood thingies with holes to cap off mouth of vase (got these at Joannes), drill with diamond bit (Lowes).

2) Unless your vase is wood (which would be weird) use a diamond bit to drill a hole in lower side of vase. We got ours from Lowes for $15. Diamond bits work on tile, glass, ceramic, and probably surgical steal.

3) Spray paint vase. I regretted not using a primer spray first because it took nearly 500 coats to cover the design. #1 spray painting rule: do many super-light coats to keep from dripping. It's tedious but worth it. Grab a margarita and make an evening out of it.

4) Cover lamp shade with fabric and grosgrain ribbon to trim. We bought a self-stick shade from Joannes. They are cheap (this one was $8) and super easy to stick fabric or paper to. You could also use spray adhesive on a regular shade.

5) Assemble lamp kit parts. You can easily find lamp kits and parts at home improvement stores. We stopped by Goodwill to look for cheap lamps to disembody and use parts from (they have like $3 lamps that are great for this), but they just happened to have an unopened lamp kit for $6. That's just crazy luck. We added the wooden piece (available at craft stores - anything with a hole will work) to the assembly to act as a cap on the mouth of the vase (see picture of assembly below).

6) Glue the wooden piece to the mouth of the vase and install shade. I used Liquid Nails from Lowes.

7) Turn that baby on and do a super cool victory dance.

This is Joshua's 'oh man I hope I don't break this thing' look: 

The very sad ending to this story is that I built this for Karen's master bedroom that I am helping her revive. I am heartbroken to deliver it to her tomorrow because it looks so happy in my nook. But I know it is best, for it will be even happier in her newly fabulous boudoir. I'll be posting about that project soon. At least I'll always have the memories...

Tiny house. Tiny budget. Great memories.

Ok, this is ridiculous. My desktop is so full of miscellaneous files and photos that my pretty zen garden wallpaper is almost completely covered. That's not very feng shui. So I vowed to clean this shit up while Josh watches some boring documentary on Jesse James.

But I'm already distracted.

I ran across some pics of the cute little cottage we owned before our current home, and I had to share. I adored this home. I remember WAY back when Josh and I were in our late teens, driving around for no reason at all other than having nothing better to do (miss those days), we would drive by this house all the time. Every time I saw it I'd say, "one day I want to live in that house." A serendipitous 8 years later, we were signing the papers. 

We had like no money. And the house was so freaking small, less than 1000 sq ft, which drove me insane at times. But it was much loved. Oh the time and creative energy we burned within that half an acre. And oh yeah, we brought home our first baby there too.

Painted every possible surface, including the cabinets; tiled the floor; installed wainscoting (that was a crazy week)...

More wainscoting...

Panel trim around tv; painted everything. First major purchase of my adulthood: that rug.

Our cute little office. I painted that old upholstered chair, fabric and all. That's an Oma pillow. I miss her.

Damn cute bathroom!

And Rosa Leigh's first bedroom. Awe! I'm still so proud of that side-table makeover. And the wall shelf makeover. And the dresser makeover. Man I was a busy pregnant lady!

 

Wish I could find a summer picture. We built those cedar shutters. It's hard to tell from the picture, but they have cute star cut-outs.  

And here is a painting I did of the house for Rosa Leigh. I hope she keeps it forever.

Prom Queen

I was eating my lunch in the break room the other day and overheard a coworker describing her daughter's prom dress. It sounded pretty, but she ended the description with, "and ya know you can't get a dress under $500." I nearly choked on my tuna salad. 

I'm way too old to be going to a prom, except as a chaperon, but this outrageous statement inspired in me a little daydreaming and the urge to find a fabulous prom get-up for way under $500...

 

This dress SCREAMS for a bold bib necklace. That led to the Egyptian, snakey flare in the bracelet and shoes.

Dress: Modcloth.com $198

Shoes: Endless.com $65

Necklace: Ebay $15

Clutch: Endless.com $35

Bracelet: Forever 21 $6

Total: $319!

And I couldn't resist posting this Betsey Johnson dress from Modcloth. It's kinda pricey at $398, but you wouldn't need many accessories with this one. Just a pair of hot pink satin pumps and a hot pink wrist corsage. Fun fun fun!